The Youngest Hides a Lot of Things [Novel] Chapter 12

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 12

Chapter Title: The Youngest is Hiding a Lot

-----------------------------------------------------------------

“Whoa, Dad's here too!”

Void carefully lifted the gold-bordered card.

The uncle's bug-chewed expression as he watched it was quite the sight...

“If you like it that much, why didn't you buy it sooner?”

When I casually asked, Void turned his head.

“They only sell this in the capital for a limited time. You can't get it in the north.”

“You could've written a letter to the duke asking him to buy it for you.”

“There's no way I could say something like that...”

His pale cheeks flushed a little.

“I said I'd become a great knight, so if I asked for something like this... it'd be too childish... he'd be disappointed...”

I could barely hear his mumble.

“Huh?”

“Nothing!”

Void neatly packed away the cards and stood up.

“Anyway, thanks for this. I'm not really into games like this.”

Liar.

“But since it's from my little sister, I have no choice but to accept!”

Void puffed out his chest and stood in front of me.

“In return, is there anything you want? Tell me.”

“Hmm, I want some alone time right now.”

“Alone time? Of course, you can have that.”

Void put on a mature face and patted my head.

“Then tomorrow, play cards with me.”

“What if I say no...”

His sharp gaze turned to me.

Of course, it wasn't threatening at all, so I just giggled it off.

“Fine, fine, I'll do it.”

At that moment, Void stared at me intently.

“But your smile...”

“Yeah?”

“It kinda looks like...”

A flicker of light passed through his innocent purple eyes.

“A girl's...?”

I froze solid.

“Nah, of course not.”

What the heck is with this kid's senses?

I was so flustered that I chased Void out right then and there.

The next morning.

I woke up feeling refreshed. Like I'd slept on a cloud.

“Ahhh. Slept so well.”

“You look like it.”

“Whoa, you scared me.”

Uncle Leviathan was sprawled on the fancy room's sofa like old laundry.

“What are you doing there? This early in the morning.”

“It's not morning, it's afternoon.”

“Huh?”

Afternoon? Did I sleep that long?

I rushed to the window to check the sun.

“...”

The sun was just rising in the east.

“Hey, what the heck! Why'd you lie!”

Uncle chuckled like a neighborhood loafer.

He was dressed in a comfortable tunic. They say fashion's ultimate accessory is the face, but even dressed so casually, he still shone.

Appearance really is everything.

I tugged at my drab silver hair in the mirror for no reason.

“What're you doing?”

“Nothing.”

“Put on slippers. Your feet are cold.”

“Yes, sir.”

I slipped into the small slippers he tossed over.

Uncle was tossing an apple in the air and catching it, playing around.

“Aren't you busy? Don't dukes who just return from a long trip usually have a ton of work?”

“Well... yeah, I am busy.”

With a flick, his nimble hand snatched the apple and placed it on the table. His sharp eyes with purple irises pierced right through me.

“You look fine, though.”

“...?”

I tilted my head, not understanding.

Uncle stood up lightly and turned his back. He seemed ready to vanish any second, so I hurriedly asked.

“Where are you going?”

“To work.”

“Breakfast?”

“...? The cook will bring it.”

“No, I mean your breakfast, Uncle...”

Uncle raised an eyebrow. A hint of trouble crossed his face.

“Ah, I've got a lot of work for a while, so eating together might be tough.”

The dark circles under his eyes suggested he really was busy.

“Just eat with Void, then. Don't like that?”

“No, it's not that.”

“We'll eat together once I'm done being busy.”

“Got it.”

“If anyone's bothering you, write down their name.”

Uncle grinned in the morning sunlight, a smile closer to a villain than a hero.

“I'll make them cry.”

“Family Head.”

As the butler approached, Leviathan looked up while strolling down the hall.

“Shall we start with inspecting the ramparts? Or the outposts in the Lezillus Mountains? You should also check on the knights and review the financial reports.”

A backlog of territory affairs he'd neglected had piled up.

“Papers first.”

Leviathan thought for a moment and chose to hole up in his study.

The butler raised an eyebrow in surprise.

“You always delegate the paperwork.”

“...”

He didn't answer.

He couldn't easily say he didn't want to leave because Rubian was on his mind. It felt out of character for him.

She slept well last night, though.

Leviathan had spent the night in Rubian's bedroom.

After arriving at the castle and handling urgents, it was already dawn. Peeking in, he saw her peacefully sleeping, breathing softly.

I knew she adapted well.

Leviathan swallowed a laugh inwardly.

She could sleep anywhere. She didn't fuss about food and rarely threw tantrums.

She seemed to like baths... but even that, she didn't insist if circumstances didn't allow.

Rubian had slept well last night.

That fact gave Leviathan a sense of stability.

On the entire journey from the capital to the duchy, the child hadn't slept well.

“Don't... go there...”

“No... not there...”

Whatever dreams she was having, she tossed and turned, drenched in cold sweat, making him deeply anxious.

The stiff knights like Leon had fretted all night over her pitiful state.

What nightmares is she haunted by?

Leviathan's eyes darkened.

Rubian seemed unaware she even had nightmares.

Mornings, she'd wake smiling and bustle about as usual.

Whether that was good or bad, he didn't know.

But seeing Rubian like that weighed heavily on Leviathan's heart.

Is she still dreaming of the village raid?

Yet her occasional sleep-talk felt oddly off.

“I... if only I'd...”

“I'll go... I'll...”

What on earth was a child supposed to do in that village?

Leviathan's brow furrowed deeply.

She's the healer's child, right?

Rubian shied away from talking about her past. Wary of touching a sore spot, Leviathan treaded carefully.

Should I wait until Rosetta returns?

He was a rough, clumsy man to begin with.

He couldn't fathom what she saw in him to follow so closely.

Even with Void...

He sighed.

It hadn't been long since he'd started making eye contact and conversing with Void. It was more like Leviathan being drawn in by Void's natural affinity.

Even that felt awkward still. It was worse with his eldest in the south.

This is tough.

He didn't know where to start.

“Ah, Your Excellency. A letter from Madam Rosetta has arrived.”

“From Rose?”

Leviathan took the letter.

It was the reply to his advance inquiry from the capital about bringing Rubian home.

A comically simple affirmative.

After losing the child in her womb to a carriage accident, Rose had begun actively caring for lost children.

She couldn't adopt them all, so she started with small sponsorships.

That's how she met Liam and Void. Both were kids she'd taken the lead on bringing home.

Leviathan had neither strongly opposed nor enthusiastically supported, just quietly watched.

So when he suddenly said he'd bring Rubian, it was natural they'd probe.

She'll ask when she returns.

Grasping his wife's intent, he chuckled softly.

“Hm?”

There was a postscript hidden under his finger.

The cautious handwriting made Leviathan's gaze deepen.

He'd buried the dead child with his own hands.

The rain that day, the chilling smallness in his palm—he remembered it like yesterday.

“...Ah.”

His mood plummeted into the muck. The air around him grew menacingly turbulent.

This wasn't good.

He forcibly calmed himself.

Shaking his head roughly, he deliberately cleared his thoughts.

“When's Rose coming back?”

“About a month, she said.”

“Right.”

He resumed walking.

Striding the hall bathed in sunlight from the large windows.

He recalled Rubian's freshly woken, shiny face.

The way she yanked at her silver hair, unhappy with it, came vividly to mind, bringing a smile.

What a temper.

The castle servants had chattered all day about Rubian's sparkling locks.

How lovable and mystical they were. Whispering among themselves.

Leviathan thought her blue eyes were the prettiest, but the hair was beautiful too.

Beautiful, pretty—for a boy.

Words he rarely used slipped out unconsciously when thinking of Rubian. He smiled again...

He stopped abruptly.

“What is it, Family Head?”

The butler asked, seeing Leviathan halt suddenly.

A strange sense of dissonance gripped him.

“It's not morning, it's afternoon.”

“Huh?”

It had been a thoughtless prank.

“Hey, what the heck! Why'd you lie!”

Rubian had dashed to the window instead of checking the clock.

As if it were second nature.

Gauging time by the sun or moon's position, so familiar.

Like a soldier navigating a battlefield...

Suddenly, an inexplicable wave crashed over him.